


But the prettiest sight to see

by imminentinertia



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Evakteket Challenge, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 11:20:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13075797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imminentinertia/pseuds/imminentinertia
Summary: Even deeply regrets doing Eva a favour for Christmas, but it turns out there’s a reward for his kindness.





	But the prettiest sight to see

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Evakteket Christmas Challenge](https://evakteket.tumblr.com/post/166037134322/yes-the-evakteket-challenge-is-back-we-know-its).
> 
> My prompt: fake dating for the holidays, carol singing, gløgg

**19:28 November 20, 2021**

Even has a steaming mug of really good coffee, he’s got in a good day’s work on his thesis and he’s hanging out with a good friend.

This would be a fitting point for some descending angels breaking out in a hymn to the glory of everyday contentment. No angels descend, though, and no hymn is sung, instead Eva groans loudly.

She stretches out her arm and lets her phone fall dramatically to the table. Even raises his eyebrows. She folds her arms and pouts, meeting his eyes and raising her own back. Eva’s rarely difficult to read. Now she obviously wants him to ask what’s wrong, so he’s a nice friend and does just that.

“Christmas. My fucking annoying aunt Helene is coming.”

Even can’t recall ever having heard of the fucking annoying aunt.

“She’s not really my aunt, even, she’s mum’s aunt. And she’s a bitch. Nothing’s ever good enough for her. Mum works too much, mum married the wrong guy, mum married another wrong guy, you can imagine how that goes down with Sigurd when he’s sitting right there, _I_ haven’t married _anybody_ , not even a wrong guy, the crackling on the roast pork isn’t crisp enough, the akevitt is too cold, why is mum sautéing the Brussels sprouts instead of boiling them practically to mush, …”

“Okay, okay, okay. I get it,” Even interrupts her. She’s working herself up and at this point he’s starting to fear she’ll talk herself into an aneurysm.

“So, aunt from hell is coming to Christmas dinner, I take it?”

Eva’s cackling is utterly mirthless.

“I fucking _wish_ . She arrives on the _twenty-first_ and stays until the _twenty-seventh_. Fuck my life.”

“Oh, she comes from out -”

“SO HARD.”

“- of Oslo, then.”

“Yes. Fucking Kristiansand. Too far to just come for one fucking dinner.”

“Why does your mum let her invade her home?”

“Because she _pities_ the fucking witch. She doesn’t have any friends and not many relatives left. I _do_ wonder why she doesn’t have any friends.”

Eva rolls her eyes exaggeratedly, going on about this Roald Dahl character of an aunt, and Even can’t hold back a grin. While he genuinely pities Eva, and sends a loving thought to his own family, her aunt stories turn out to be quite entertaining.

 

**12:04 December 6**

Even rarely drinks and he rarely stays up late, but last night’s celebration of a friend having finished his exams took an unfortunate but fun turn, featuring at least one beer too many and loud guitar playing in someone’s studio flat after the bars closed, and he feels a little off-kilter today.

Thankfully Eva texts him, suggesting brunch in a café they both like, and it grounds him a bit and clears his brain a little. He’s sitting across from her, contentedly eating his omelette while Eva regales him with stories from her eventful Saturday night. Now and then she mutters darkly about her European Integration Theory presentation, which she apparently thinks she botched. Even doubts that she did, she’s brighter than she gives herself credit for, but he makes comforting sounds at that and approving sounds at her successful attempt at drowning her sorrows.

He’ll miss this when he returns to Oslo in a couple of weeks to spend his final semester there and finish his master’s thesis. He’ll miss Eva and all the other friends he’s made in Trondheim. He’ll miss living on his own. It’s a wise thing to do, though, saving some money by living with his parents again and maybe even getting work as a production assistant, if the vague promises from a film producer he worked with here hold true.

“By the way, Even…”

“Mhm?”

“You’ll be in Oslo for Christmas, won’t you?”

“Yeah, as usual. Why?”

Eva leans forward and puts her chin cutely in her hands, looking up at him with wide eyes.

“Could you do me a favour? One little thing before our paths divide for ever and ever?”

“Our paths probably only divide until the day after you come back here and start texting me again...”

“Focus, Even.”

“Yeah, yeah. Anything for you, of course. Sure!”

 

**18:47 December 21**

_Famous last words_ , Even thinks. _Sure, I'll help you out, Eva. Sure, I’ll pretend to be your boyfriend, Eva. Sure, I'll come to dinner with your mum and her husband and her aunt, Eva. How bad can it be_.

The answer to that is _pretty fucking bad_.

At least it takes his mind off being back in his parents’ flat, feeling rather less grown up than he’s felt for the last few years. That’s the best thing he has to say about this fake one night relationship.

One thing is that pretending to be in a relationship is incredibly weird and fucked up however you look at it, another that Eva apparently didn’t let her mum in on the secret. Even overheard Anne Marit remarking to Eva that this is certainly a surprising development in their friendship. Even can’t blame her.

He’s been Eva’s friend since they ended up talking at the student festival two and a half years ago, when Eva had just arrived in Trondheim and was looking a little forlorn when Even spotted her at a festival party. Although he’s never met Eva’s mum before, Eva has obviously talked about him, but probably not in terms of a prospective boyfriend. That spark was just never there, although the friendship grew quickly.

He’s starting to regret befriending Eva as he clings to his sticky gløgg cup and tries to look like he’s smiling, not gritting his teeth.

Aunt Helene didn't seem so bad for a few minutes. A little beady-eyed and a little too heavy-handed with some musky perfume, maybe. Then she scoffed at Even studying film production. She brought up his height, in disapproving tones, at least seven times during the first half hour. When she told him to eat all the raisins and almonds in his gløgg because he’s too skinny, Even had just about had it. You do _not_ comment on other people's looks like that.

If only this fucking awkward night was over. He’s desperately longing for his parents, his room, a cup of decent tea. He wants to stop being Eva’s pretend boyfriend and he’d rather not have any more sickly-sweet plumped-up raisins.

Suddenly there’s singing right outside. By men who can’t sing all that well.

They all run to find out what’s going on, if Even is being generous enough to call what aunt Helene is doing “running”, crowding around the door. Eva’s mum opens it and the light spills out on two guys belting out _Deck the hall_.

Eva starts laughing and then doesn’t seem able to stop, so Even puts his arm around her shoulders and gives her a little squeeze. Anne Marit is laughing too, Sigurd looks amused and aunt Helene, completely unsurprisingly, is muttering under her breath.

“What the fuuuuck!” Eva shouts to the two guys, earning herself a _language, Eva!_ from aunt Helene.

“Are you two Chip ‘n’ Dale now?” Eva howls.

Okay, so she knows them.

They break off their singing and the shorter, darker of the pair yells back.

“Welcome home, Pluto!”

The other guy curls in on himself, laughing, and Even’s world stops spinning.

Or maybe it starts spinning properly for the first time. He can’t tell.

That guy is _beautiful_.

He’s wearing a scarf that must be big enough for him to use as a blanket if necessary, he has blond curls peeking out from under his beanie, he has long legs in skinny jeans below his parka, his smile is wide and gorgeous and his eyes are shining in the light spilling out from the door and his laughter warms Even all over, even though it’s not even directed at him.

Eva has slipped away from Even and stuffed her feet into some boots that surely belong to Sigurd and gone out in the snow, hugging both guys hard. She turns around, tugging them to the door.

“Hello, Jonas, Isak, merry Christmas,” Anne Marit says and steps out to hug both of them, Sigurd and Even both adding their hellos. Aunt Helene makes a disapproving noise in greeting.

Ah yes, Jonas and Isak. Eva’s ex and her friend. She’s told Even a lot about them, giggled her way through convoluted embarrassing stories about what they would get up to, sometimes talked in low tones about missing them both. In theory, Even knows a fair amount of details about them, like what they’re studying, but he can’t for the life of him dredge up anything about Isak right now. Astrophysics? Artificial intelligence? Something fancy and science-y starting with A. In Oslo, anyway. He shares a flat with some other of Eva’s friends. And last winter Eva was video chatting a lot with him, not having much time for Even for a while, because he broke up with his boyfriend.

 _Oh, that’s right. A boyfriend_.

_He’s into guys._

This would be a fitting point for some descending angels breaking out in a hymn to the glory of possible attraction. No angels descend, however, there are no hymns, there are only disapproving sniffs from aunt Helene right behind him.

“Sorry, but we were at my mum’s and we knew Eva came home yesterday, so we couldn’t resist dropping by,” the tall gorgeous blond guy - Isak - says. Isak who’s into guys. Isak who has beautiful lips just above the giant scarf.

Eva is giggling, still hugging both guys to her. Anne Marit turns to the others.

“These two are Eva’s friends, that’s Jonas and Isak.”

She turns back to the three on the porch and waves her hand at the others hovering just inside the door.

“My aunt Helene. Sigurd you already know. And this is Even, Eva’s boyfriend.”

_Fuck fuck fucking hell FUCK._

Even had forgotten all about that, being busy dragging everything he’s heard about Isak up from his memory. Now he has to drape his arm around Eva again and nod and smile and say a proper hello.

His eyes meet Isak’s over their handshake and _that does not help_. Isak is even more gorgeous up close, his hand is cold but still burning Even because it’s _his_ hand, he’s tall and his hair is curling around the edge of his beanie, his cheeks are flushed from the cold and the sum of it is that Even is _gone_.

Then the guys leave, amid laughter and promises to meet Eva for a drink, and Eva and her family goes back inside. Even hesitates at the door, straining to keep the scarf and the parka and the long stride in his sight as long as possible, until aunt Helene loudly calls out for a game of bridge.

 

**10:19 December 22**

 

 

 

**21:21 December 23**

Even successfully kept himself from asking if Isak would be one of the friends going out, but he would have come along either way. He’ll miss drinking with Eva, never mind that he usually drinks very little and she usually drinks quite a lot.

He gets a beer at the bar, a low alcohol one. Refusing the free gingerbread heart the bartender tries to give him ( _gingerbread and beer, really?_ ), he makes his way over to Eva’s table.

Eva’s, Jonas’ and Isak’s table, as it turns out.

Isak looks even better when he’s not wrapped in giant scarves and coats. Even lets their conversation wash over him for a little while, just looking discreetly at Isak’s thick, fair, ever so slightly curly hair, at his single raised eyebrow when Eva mentions a hookup back in Trondheim, at his wide gorgeous gappy-toothed smile.

Every now and then, their eyes meet.

Even finds himself in an odd state where he’s both relaxed and tense. The easy banter around him seems to include him in their group and makes it easy to throw in the odd joke of his own. On the other hand, every glance and every word from Isak plucks at Even’s nerves like they’re strings on a harp.

They talk about why Eva hasn’t introduced Even to her old friends before (Jonas: “it’s fucking rude denying you the delights of our company”) and Even tries to be not too obvious about lamenting his summer internships in Trondheim, or every time he’s spent time with his own friends or his family instead of hanging out with Eva and her friends. These friends. This particular friend. They talk about uni, and it turns out that Isak is a pharmacy student. Which doesn’t start with an A, but at least there are A’s in the word so maybe that’s where Even got that.

More of Eva’s friends show up, hugging her and Isak and Jonas and chattering away, chairs are shuffled around and Even finds himself in a corner, a giggling blonde on one side and Isak on the other. Obviously some deity has taken a liking to him, as the guy on Isak’s other side turns to Eva and by conversational default, that leaves Isak to Even.

He can’t for the life of him think of a conversation starter and his mouth goes dry. When Isak turns towards him, he makes a grab for the dullest subject in the world, immediately regretting sounding like his own uncle.

“What are your plans when you graduate?”

Isak groans.

“Shit, I don’t even want to think about it. I hope to get a research fellowship, but so does a million other people. Maybe I’ll just get a job. Or start a meth lab in my bathroom.”

Isak takes a long swallow from his bottle of beer.

“I have a couple of years left, though. Eva mentioned that you finish your master’s in June, yeah? What are you going to do after?”

“Get a job here in Oslo. If I’m lucky.” Even tries to smile but it turns a little stiff, because this is a real concern and he hates worrying about it. Too many people want the glamorous life of the movie industry. Too many people know other people who can get them those few jobs available in the admittedly not so glamorous movie industry. Rather too many of Even’s hopes hang on the producer who may or may not give him some work.

“The jobs are mostly here. I’ve already moved back in with my parents, so if I don’t get a job, I can become one of the guys living at home when they’re forty, maybe. Help out in your meth lab if nothing else comes up.”

Isak grins, head tipped back a little.

“That will be amazing, I’m sure. We’ll be masters of making meth.”

Isak looks down at his bottle, starting to turn it slowly between his hands, holding it between long slender fingers like it’s something precious.

“Will Eva stay in Trondheim? She hasn’t mentioned coming back here.”

“I think so? She has her degree to finish, so…”

Isak slips a nail under the edge of the bottle label.

“Sucks to live that far away from your girlfriend.”

_Girlfriend? Eva? What the… oh no._

Even can feel his eyes stretch wide, his blood galloping through his veins.

“She isn’t my girlfriend! We only pretended! She wanted to rub a witchy aunt’s nose in her having a boyfriend! Because the aunt thinks Eva isn’t proper girlfriend material or something! That was why I was at their house!”

Isak abruptly straightens his back, wide eyes meeting Even’s.

“You _what_ ? You _pretended_ to be her boyfriend? That’s the most fucked up thing I ever heard!”

His laughter rings out, and while Even could do with not feeling quite this silly, at least he could amuse Isak.

“It was Eva’s idea…”

“Aunt Helene, right? Jonas has wasted hours of my life bitching about her.”

“Uh, yeah.”

Isak starts laughing again.

“I know it’s fucked up,” Even tries, “but it’s kinda so fucked up it’s okay? For the sake of the greater good?”

“No,” Isak grins at him. “It’s so fucked up it’s even worse. I can believe it from Eva, though. Did it work?”

Even sighs.

“Maybe? Aunt Helene gave Eva a ton of shit, but apparently she liked me.”

Isak smiles, just a little.

“I can imagine.”

 

**00:14 December 24**

Eventually, after more beer, more talking and two more rounds of people howling with laughter at the story of the fake boyfriend, Eva declares that she wants to go dancing. So do the others. Even would like to stay in the bar, preferably forever, talking to Isak, but as everyone starts putting on their coats he resigns himself to his fate. As he zips up his parka, he hears Isak tell Eva he’ll head home instead.

He strongly suspects Eva can tell why he suddenly changes his mind and tells her he’ll head home, too. There’s a glint in her eye that might mean there will be long texts full of exclamation marks later.

They see Eva and the others off, running and sliding up the icy street with shouted see yous and Merry Christmases, and Isak turns to Even.

“Which way are you going?”

“Your way.”

_Oh NO. Where’s that fucking Time-Turner when you need it._

“Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that. That was really creepy. Sorry.” Even winces so hard he feels like he’s physically recoiling from himself.

Weirdly, Isak doesn’t look like he’s about to punch Even. There’s a little half-smile on his lips.

“To be honest it was really cheesy, but not all that creepy, I think. I live in Fredensborg, just a few minutes away. You?”

It appears that Even might survive saying horrible things, cheesy or creepy, since Isak miraculously seems okay with it, but the two of them being headed in completely opposite directions is a setback any way you look at the situation.

“Torshov,” he says, mentally preparing for a good night and a see you that will never come to reality.

Isak raises an eyebrow.

“My way it is, then.”

Even’s breath hitches.

There are moments when you sense that right now it’s okay to lean in and kiss the person standing in front of you. It’s like a certainty settling in your nerves, in your brain, in your bones, that this is welcome.

They both lean in at the same time, their lips sliding gently against each other, their breaths puffing out and mixing into one white cloud between them. Even thinks he might be happy standing right there forever, the cold biting his nose and earlobes and toes, Isak’s scarf slightly in the way between their chins, as long as Isak’s warm lips are moving against his and Isak’s tongue dips into his mouth. It’s even better when Isak puts his gloved hands on Even’s cheeks, and Even remembers that he too has hands and arms that can be used to hold Isak closer to him. Rather too much of what he grabs hold of is parka, but there’s Isak underneath it.

This would be a fitting point for some descending angels breaking out in a hymn. No angels descend and there are no hymns, there’s only the crunch of the cold snow under their feet as they start to walk down the street, together.

 

**Author's Note:**

> When Eva, Isak and Jonas are talking about Pluto and Chip 'n' Dale they're referring to [this Disney cartoon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto%27s_Christmas_Tree), which NRK airs every Christmas Eve as part of a Disney Christmas show.
> 
> Even is referring to [Dinner for One](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One), which NRK airs every December 23 (lille julaften in Norwegian, "little Christmas Eve"). Everywhere else where it's regularly aired it's a New Year's Eve thing. I have absolutely no idea why it's a Christmas thing in Norway.
> 
> Thank you to [himmelsky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/himmelsky/pseuds/himmelsky) for helping me make this rather less shit than it originally was ♥
> 
> I'm [skamskada](https://skamskada.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr. Come say hi.


End file.
